STATUS REPORT on The Eastern Moose (Alces alces americana Clinton) in Mainland Nova Scotia by Gerry Parker 23 Marshview Drive, Sackville, New Brunswick. E4L 3B2 [email protected] (June 6, 2003) 2 TECHNICAL SUMMARY DISTRIBUTION Extent of occurrence: Mainland Nova Scotia; ~ 55,000 km2 Area of Occupancy: Fragmented; ~ six foci of distribution of ~ 10,000 km2 POPULATION INFORMATION Total number of individuals in the mainland Nova Scotia population: Uncertain, but approximately 1,000 to 1,200. Number of mature individuals in the mainland Nova Scotia population (effective population size): Perhaps 85% of estimated population, or 850 to 1,000individuals. Generation time: Average life expectancy of 8-10 years. Population trend: __X____ declining _____increasing _____ stable _____unknown Rate of population decline: ~ 20% in 30 years Number of sub-populations: Possibly 3: northeastern; southwestern; eastern shore. Is the population fragmented? Yes. number of individuals in each subpopulation: see map in Figure 1. number of historic sites from which species has been extirpitated: All of mainland except where noted above. Does the species undergo fluctuations? Irregular long-term trends. THREATS The moose of mainland Nova Scotia are fully protected from legal hunting but are subjected to poaching of an uncertain extent. Increased incursion into wilderness moose habitat by forestry roads raises the threat of disturbance from humans and illegal kill. Moose are also subject to mortality from the parasite Parelaphostrongylus tenuis, a brainworm common to white-tailed deer, and are often restricted to areas of deer absence or scarcity. Dead or dying moose have been necropsied with symptoms of an unidentified viral infection – the real threat of this possible pathogen is yet to be determined. 3 Moose carry high levels of the heavy metal cadmium - the health risk to the moose remains uncertain. Loss of older growth conifer habitat to forest harvesting may pose additional threat to local populations. RESCUE POTENTIAL Does species exist outside mainland Nova Scotia? Yes, on Cape Breton Island (separate subspecies), in New Brunswick, Maine and several other northeastern states and throughout much of the northern transitional and boreal forests of Canada and Alaska. Is immigration known or possible? Moose may immigrate from New Brunswick or from Cape Breton Island, but impact on population levels in mainland Nova Scotia would be marginal. Would individuals from the nearest foreign population be adapted to survive in mainland Nova Scotia? Yes. Would sufficient suitable habitat be available for immigrants? Probably not, suitable habitat availability may be the factor currently restricting population growth. TABLE OF CONTENTS 4 Page TECHNICAL SUMMARY............................................................... 2 TABLE OF CONTENTS................................................................... 4 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY................................................................ 6 SPECIES INFORMATION Name, Classification and Taxonomy........................................ Description............................................................................… 10 DISTRIBUTION Eastern North America...........................................................… 10 Nova Scotia Historic ........................................................................... 11 Recent (1960s - 1970s) ................................................... 12 Current (1980s - Present) ............................................... 13 HABITAT General .................................................................................…. 15 Selection and Use .................................................................…. 16 Management .........................................................................…. 18 BIOLOGY General...................................................................................... 19 Sex and Age Structure……………………............................... 19 Reproduction and Productivity ………………………………. 20 Mortality and Survival .....................................................…… 21 Food Habits............................................................................... 22 Harvest...................................................................................... 24 Disease ..................................................................................... 25 Movements/Home Range/Dispersal ........................................ 30 POPULATION SIZE AND TRENDS............................................... 32 LIMITING FACTORS AND THREATS.......................................... 35 5 SPECIAL SIGNIFICANCE OF SPECIES........................................ 37 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS............................................................... 37 LITERATURE CITED...................................................................... 38 BIOGRAPHY OF AUTHOR............................................................ 50 AUTHORITIES CONSULTED........................................................ 50 TABLES............................................................................................. 52 FIGURES APPENDICES……………………………………………………… 57 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Description 6 The eastern moose (Alces alces americana) is one of four recognized subspecies which occupy the northern mixed and boreal forest zones of North America. Three other subspecies, referred to as European elk, are found in similar biomes across Eurasia. The moose is the largest member of the deer (Cervidae) family, characterized by long legs, high shoulders, a short tail, broad overhanging muzzle, large ears and short neck. Adult males develop extremely large and palmate antlers. The hair is coarse and brittle, the colour assuming various shades of brown, brownish-black and gray. The average bull moose of mainland Nova Scotia weighs less than one thousand pounds, while a twelve hundred pound specimen would be an exception. Adult cows give birth to one or two calves in late May, often on islands or peninsulas. A young calf, which weighs about twenty-five pounds at birth, has a short body, long legs and ears and light reddish brown fur with a dark dorsal stripe. Growth is rapid and the young moose soon assumes the blackish-brown of adults with brown shading into yellowish-gray on the legs and belly (Merrill, 1916). Calves remain with their mothers throughout the full year. The moose was important to the early Aboriginal First Nations as a source of food, clothing and shelter. Later, early European settlers also came to depend upon the moose for food while many were slaughtered in the early and mid-1800s for commercial trade with English merchants. In the late 1800s and early 1900s moose were hunted for sport. The season for hunting moose on mainland Nova Scotia was closed in 1938, opened again for the five northern counties from 1964 through 1974, closed in 1975 and 1976, and re-opened again from 1977 through 1981. It has remained closed since. The moose was assigned “red” rank by the province in 2000, identifying it as a species at risk of extirpation. Distribution Beginning in the late 1700s, and accelerating through the 1800s, the southern range limits of eastern moose retreated north from most New England states due to loss of habitat and excessive kill by humans. In New Brunswick and Nova Scotia moose met a similar although delayed fate and by 1875 there were few remaining in either province. But with the introduction of game laws in the 1880s which served to limit the human harvest, moose began to increase and once again became common throughout mainland Nova Scotia. Moose were extirpated on Cape Breton Island years earlier and did not return to that part of the province until they were reintroduced to Cape Breton Highlands National Park from Elk Island National Park, Alberta in 1948 and 1949. Following closure of hunting in Nova Scotia in 1938, moose continued to decline. From 1960 to the present, most moose on the mainland have been restricted to the northern Cobequid Hills and Pictou- Antigonish Highlands, the isolated southwestern interior in and around the Tobeatic Wildlife Management Area, and scattered pockets along the eastern shores of Guysborough, Halifax, Shelburne, Queens and Yarmouth Counties. Habitat 7 Moose are commonly associated with wilderness boreal and mixedwood habitats, although the species is most often found where its preferred food - the twigs, stems and foliage of young deciduous trees and shrubs - is most abundant. Such preferred habitats include forested landscapes recently disturbed by fire, wind, disease and timber harvesting. Preferred summer habitats, especially for female and young moose, include an interspersion of wetlands with access to submerged and emergent aquatic vegetation. In winter moose prefer a landscape supporting recently disturbed mixed forests for food and adjacent mature conifer cover for escape and shelter. The availability of suitable habitat is critical for maintenance of optimum individual physical and reproductive condition and population productivity. Population Size and Trend The productivity and total numbers of moose are often dependent upon the availability of deciduous shrubs, which are most abundant in recently disturbed forests. It is reasonable, then, that the historic abundance of moose in Nova Scotia has been closely associated with the occurrence of such events. Given the generally accepted range of moose densities in similar habitats and under comparable circumstances, an estimate for numbers of moose in a pre-European